1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to knives for removing a first, covering material from a second, underlying material and particularly to knives for removing the hide from the musculature of a dead animal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Once an animal has been killed in a hunt it is ordinarily necessary to field dress and skin the animal. Skinning involves removing the hide of the animal from the musculature, or meat, of the animal with minimal damage to the meat, which is a challenging task.
Various tools have been devised to assist a hunter in skinning an animal that has been killed in hunting. Generally, the idea is to slit the hide and lift it from the meat without damaging the meat. One such tool is shown in Montgomery U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,432, which employs an arm having a spreading member at one end and that is pivotally attached to a knife at the other end so that the spreading member may be placed under the tip of the knife blade to lift the hide off the meat as the hide is slit. However, this device can be awkward to use because of the wide-swinging arm and the spreading member includes fairly narrow walls that concentrate force on the meat. Another such tool is shown in Crist U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,941. In this case, a spreading member fits over the tip of the knife and is held in place by a strap. However, this too may be awkward to use because the spreading member and strap hang loosely when the spreading member is not attached to the tip and, when the spreading member is attached to the tip, it covers a portion of the blade that is most useful in slitting the hide.
It has been found that there is a need for a better skinning knife that provides a more effective and convenient to use spreading member, and is more versatile in its function.